The Life of the Creative Spirit

By H Charles Romesburg

Drawing upon the ideas of more than three hundred notable creators, including painters, scientists, mathematicians, entrepreneurs, writers, poets, naturalists, actors, and rock climbers, The Life of the Creative Spirit explains how to work at most any vocation or avocation as an artist would.

For employers, it gives insights for keeping creative workers happy. For educators and parents, it gives ideas for schooling the young and turning them on to a life of creative work. For the young, it offers better understanding of themselves and their career possibilities. For older creators, it gives strategies for keeping their creative faculties and interest going strong.

And for readers in general, it gives an increased appreciation of creativity and its role in society, of the oneness of the aesthetic and the moral, and of how creative work puts spirituality into creators' lives, leading them to what the writer Jack London called ultimate happiness.

The book presents new and valuable reasons for humanely treating animals and for preserving nature. It explains that compassion to animals is an integral part of a creative society, and that the more animals are revered and treated kindly, the more creative society will be.

It explains that nature is likewise an integral part of a creative society, and that the current destruction of wilderness and species suppresses creativity in society, thereby suppressing the production of great goodness we give to each other through our art and work.

Quotations of notable creators comprise half of the book. The author has collected them in the course of scholarly research of studying published diaries, journals, letters, and other autobiographical material, with the intent of making the collection form a gestalt on the topic of creativity.

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction To Important Matters

PART ONE: The Nature Of Creative Work

Chapter Two: What A Project Is

Chapter Three: How Projects Are Recursive

Chapter Four: How Projects Use Modeling

Chapter Five: How Creators Collaborate

Chapter Six: What Goodness And Quality Are

Chapter Seven: Where Quality Comes From

Chapter Eight: How Inner And Outer Excellence Run Each Other

Chapter Nine: How The Creative Spirit And Quality Humanize Us

Chapter Ten: What Motivates Creators

Chapter Eleven: How To Be A Universal Artist

PART TWO: Examples Of Creators At Work

Chapter Twelve: The Work Of The Artist

Chapter Thirteen: The Work Of The Scientist

Chapter Fourteen: The Work Of The Mathematician

Chapter Fifteen: The Work Of The Mechanic

Chapter Sixteen: The Work Of The Entrepreneur

Chapter Seventeen: The Work Of The Rock Climber

Chapter Eighteen: The Work Of The Collector

PART THREE: The Responsibilities Of Creators

Chapter Nineteen: Guarding Against A Life Given To Sensual Pleasures

Chapter Twenty: Raising Children

Chapter Twenty-one: Raising Oneself

Chapter Twenty-two: Revering Every Form Of Life

Chapter Twenty-three: Knowing And Preserving Nature

PART FOUR: Credos Of Creative Workers

September 2002 review in National Review Network (New Age Retailer magazine). Reviewer: Thomas Peter von Bahr, Pacific NorthWest Group, Lopez Island, Wash.

This plain-covered, inconspicuous book is more than 350 pages long. The first 165 pages are Dr. H. Charles Romesburg's own, and the rest of the book is a collection of wonderful excerpts from the writings of many artists and "creators," ranging from Georgia O'Keeffe to Bertrand Russell to Rainer Maria Rilke to Maria Callas. So readers are treated not only to the rich fabric of thought of humanist and professor of forestry Romesburg as he examines what cultivates a creative life but also to inspiring musings about creativity by noted artists, writers, and thinkers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401002587
• ISBN13: 9781401002589
• Release Date: April 2002
• Publisher: Xlibris Us
• Length: 378 Pages
• Weight: 1.17 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.6" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Book Review -- The Life of the Creative Spirit

I have a number of inspirational books in my library and I have found them helpful in maintaining a positive attitude toward life.But, to me, THE LIFE OF THE CREATIVE SPIRIT is much more inspiring since it conveys a deeper and challenging message. While the author gives us guidelines to attain material success by using our powers of creativity, he also urges us to develop and use these powers to do more for others. He charges that, for our ultimate satisfaction, true success and happiness, we should work to attain "goodness" which he maintains comes from doing our creative part toward making this a better world for everyone.And Part Four of the book, 187 pages of quotes of many of the most successful people over the centuries, is a treasure in itself which reinforces the claims of the author.I feel that the theme of the book is best expressed in that section by ALBERT EINSTEIN: "The life of the individual has meaning only insofar as it aids in making the life of every living thing nobler and more beautiful." And by JOHN-PAUL SARTE: "It would be my own fault if I squandered my life."This book opened my mind to possibilities for growth I had not even dreamed of before. I believe I am a better person for having read it and I will keep it on my desk for ready reference in the future.

A Creative Book About Creativity, Quality, and Excellence

This book is about creative work. The highest complimentthat I can give to The Life of the Creative Spirit is that when Ifinished reading it, I turned back to page one and read it again. This book describes projects and creative work, from theconstruction of a path through your garden, to making a bettergarden trowel, to Michelangelo painting the ceiling of theSistine Chapel. It defines quality and excellence. The theme ofthe book is that creative work, be it the work of an artist, ascientist, a mathematician, a mechanic, an entrepreneur, a rockclimber (taking a creative route to the top), a collector (thinkof collecting and displaying a collection of fine paintings), orwork in almost any vocation or avocation can put goodness intothe world, and makes for a life in which "... most every day isthe time of one's life." This book describes the importance of quality and excellenceto everyday life. What person has never been moved by a greatpainting or by music or by reading a book or by simply using awell designed tool? "Consider a certain garden trowel," theauthor says. "Relative to alternative designs, its creatorsintended it to serve suitably well across a range of features--retaining its sharpness, resisting bending at the handle,inhibiting rust, neither fatiguing nor raising blisters, whilecosting less than other trowels." When we encounter quality, theauthor tells us, "our spirits leap." How true. This book takes the reader "behind the ranges" to someinteresting places. The book makes a convincing argument thatkindness toward animals and the preservation of nature areessential to creativity. "More than ever before, causing pain orterror to people and animals, or enslaving them, or taking theirlives impedes the creation and consumption of artistic excellencein society." The author concludes the book with a reasoned argument thatknowing and preserving nature are essential to creativity. Nature, the author says, "is necessary for our spiritual well-being." "... Had our ancestors roamed an alabaster-smooth planet,Pythagoras wouldn't have been Pythagoras, nor Einstein beenEinstein, nor Maxfield Parrish, James Russell Lowell, JosephHaydn, E.E. Barnard, Wassily Kandinsky, Rachel Carson, and M.C.Escher been as creative as they were." The last section of the book has 187 pages of Credos ofCreative Writers, quoting the thoughts and ideas of notablecreators like Ansel Adams, Louis Armstrong, Rachel Carson,Abraham Maslow, John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and many, manyothers. This section alone is worth the purchase price of thebook. I have been thinking about this book each day since I firstread it three months ago. Its discussion about quality andexcellence, goodness, beauty, and wilderness preservation hasmade my work as a computer programmer all the more enjoyable. After reading this book, I plan to fight even harder for theprotection of the natural world and for the preservation of allspecies. The author is right